A Conundrum; A Paradigm

Hawk & Robot has three main focal points: Food, Art and People - it is our vehicle to share our lives and artistic endeavors, contribute to the inherent worth of all life, and be involved in the collective decisions that affect the health and well-being of our planet.

Let's start with the name. Hawk & Robot is a brainstorm, an image simultaneously whimsical, monumental, earthshaking; it represents the story of an epic and fierce battle of the ages: The Living vs. The Mechanical. The concept is a conundrum of how to live a balanced life within this dichotomy.

FOOD

Our passion is to be a thoughtful and active participant in the cycle from nutrient-rich soil to the red pepper on our plate to the reuse of waste as compost or fertilizer. We believe our food industry is out of order. In fact, it should not be an industry at all, and never should have been. Food should not be considered an industrial commodity; food is biological. It is alive the same as we are, and requires more patience, cooperation, reverence, nurture and skill than we currently give to it. The systems our race has organized to grow, produce and distribute our food supply are depleting, destructive and wasteful, In addition, much of the output ends up not much resembling real food at all, and the nutritional benefits it provides are critically low.

ART

Art has many layers, but we consider the general definition of art to be the creative expression of the shared experience of life. This basic level of art is omnipresent and unrestricted, yet is another formerly commonplace aspect of life that has largely become a commodity. Much like food, our commerce has relegated art to specific social and economic compartments that seek only to profit from its creation, even though a radical dissemination continues to occur through the use of technology. We care to re-establish this fundamental state of being as an integral part of our everyday experience.

PEOPLE

This all involves people; this involves all people. We believe that people thrive most when living and working and doing their thing alongside and in relation- ships with others in close proximity, and that communities are formed by the mental and emotional bonds created through these activities. Many towns and cities have begun to implement ways for people to come together around food like farmer's markets, CSA's and urban gardens or farms. The increasing inclination to eat food at and buy food from locally-owned sources has become a point of entry into the larger realm of restoring a sense of community in many aspects of daily life including health, creativity, commerce, recreation and productivity. Our society started growing into a paradigm in the forties and now we are growing into a new one that seeks to reverse the splintering effects brought about by corporate ideas: specialization, mechanization, speculation, globalization... we are witnessing the Robot's shortcomings and rediscovering our strength in the diversity and harmony of the natural world.